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Vivekananda's Impact on Indian Nationalism

Swami Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna movement after gaining success representing Hinduism at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. There, he emphasized India's tolerance of different religious sects and acceptance of other faiths under the umbrella of Hinduism. After returning to India, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna movement to preserve Indian culture and instill national pride. His philosophy influenced nationalist leaders and was interpreted to connect worship of Goddess Kali and sacrificing for Mother India in the fight for independence from British rule.

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20 views1 page

Vivekananda's Impact on Indian Nationalism

Swami Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna movement after gaining success representing Hinduism at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. There, he emphasized India's tolerance of different religious sects and acceptance of other faiths under the umbrella of Hinduism. After returning to India, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna movement to preserve Indian culture and instill national pride. His philosophy influenced nationalist leaders and was interpreted to connect worship of Goddess Kali and sacrificing for Mother India in the fight for independence from British rule.

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Swami Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Movement

The Ramakrishna movement was established by Swami Vivekananda, who was a disciple
of a Hindu saint Ramakrishna. The success of Swami Vivekananda began when he
represented Hinduism at an international religion congress, which was held in 1893 in
Chicago, USA. Vivekananda demonstrated India as a tolerant society, which allows
different sects to live together under one roof of Hinduism and as a society, which also
accepted in it people of other religions. He claimed that all religions eventually prayed to
the same one God and the goal of all religions is the same, to reach God. He began his
speech by referring to other delegates as ‘brothers and sisters’ and so proving his point
that all the human race was one big family. His messages about humanity attracted many
people of European culture and many claim that he started the European phenomenon of
cults with Indian gurus.

After his success in America he returned to India and established the Ramakrishna
movement with an aim to preserve the Indian culture. This movement considered the
Indian culture as the most humanistic and spiritual culture in the world. This movement
succeeded in establishing pride in Indian people about their culture which, they didn’t
had before. His philosophy affected many nationalist leaders and they interpreted his
philosophy so that it could be adjusted to Indian nationalism. For example the
Ramakrishna movement believed in the existence of Supreme Being but Swami
Vivekananda did not reject idolatry and claimed that the different idols were different
ways to reach the same Supreme Being. This was interpreted to connect Goddess Earth
(Mother India) and Goddess Kali whom many worshipped in Bengal. The message was
sacrificing oneself for Mother India was like sacrificing for Kali. Some of Swami
Vivekananda’s preachings were interpreted also by the British as hints to act against the
British. For example Vivekananda preached that the path to realize God was not only
worshipping idols in spiritual way but also through intellectual and physical action. The
British thought that by saying physical action, Vivekananda meant terrorist actions
against them.

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